Unbreakable Bond
by AddictBook
Summary: Rewritten. Lily Hathaway has been best friends with Moira Dragomir, the Queen's youngest daughter, since first grade. Now, in the wake of a kidnapping, the girls discover they have a very strong bond that someone sought them out to create. Will the two be able to recover? Or will something force them to run just like their mothers did? Rated T.
1. Prologue

_I have no idea why this prologue took me so long to write. I kept writing and then losing the inspiration to write so it took me a lot longer than I thought to finally end up writing this. _

_But yes, for those who don't know, this is a remake of sorts of my first story, Unbreakable Bond. Originally the story was in first person from Lily Hathaway's POV but I decided that third person would be better for the plot of the story that I wrote. Plus I am _terrible_ at only doing one POV. _

_But yeah sorry that this took so long and here is the prologue for the story, Unbreakable Bond._

**A/N: This is also on Wattpad.**

* * *

_Unbreakable Bond_

* * *

Prologue

* * *

It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

Moira and Lily, best friends since the first day of first grade, had been kidnapped.

Moira was the youngest child of the current Queen of the Moroi world, Lissa Dragomir, and her husband, Christian Ozera-Dragomir. She was a Moroi Princess (not having the actual title but was the daughter of the Queen). Lily was a dhampir whose mother lived in a small dhampir community not thirty minutes away from the school. Lily was just someone who was _like _a Princess but not the actual thing.

So, why did they get kidnapped?

Well, no one really knows the truth.

Lily had always done extremely good on her finals and even fought in heels once but the kidnappers had jumped out of the shadows while her guard was down, snapping a heel. Most kidnappers go for the target first but they knew exactly who to go for. They knocked Lily off her feet, trapped her in their arms, before putting a gun to her head and forcing Moira to surrender.

Moira had been on the road to specializing in fire before they got kidnapped.

Lily and Moira were tied up (Lily more than Moira) and thrown in the back of a van. One of the kidnappers tied blindfolds around their heads and kept the two of them separated. Lily could hear Moira's breathing from across the room. Lily sat still and tried to memorize the twists and turns and nearly succeeded, until she realized that they had been driving in several different circles.

They stopped and Lily slammed into the back of the van. One of the men cackled, grabbing her by the waist and lifting her up. She felt him moving through corridors and even up a flight of stairs, all while carrying her over his shoulder. She could hear someone telling Moira where to go. They want Moira, she realized.

They aren't going to get Moira!

As she moved to try and fight back, she was thrown, landing against a wooden floor. She groaned and someone removed her blindfold from around her eyes. Moira was sat against a ruined couch in the corner. Two men were standing by the door as another man stood over him. He must've been the one who held Lily because of the way he was looking at her in the silver dress.

Lily sat up, scooting closer towards the couch. He followed her the entire way.

"Don't make any plans of escape," he warned as he moved to leave. "You won't make it very far." He snapped the door shut behind him. Lily looked towards Moira, then the other two men on the other side of the room, and then back towards Moira.

"We'll get out of this," Lily whispered.

"How?" Moira muttered.

"I haven't thought of that yet…" Lily admitted.

Moira laughed. "Always rushing in without a plan,"

"You wouldn't want me any other way."

"Isn't that the truth…"

* * *

Dimitri Belikov was walking through the rounds when Andre Dragomir came running up to him. Andre was the oldest of the triplets, older than Rhea by ten minutes and Moira by fifteen. He was almost as tall as Dimitri and had black hair like his father. He, however, was the only one to inherit his mother's green eyes. He was dressed nicely for the ball with a maroon red button up and a black tie.

"Dimitri," Andre said. "Have you seen Moira and Lily?"

"Not since they left the party," Dimitri answered. "Why?"

"Because," Andre hesitated but Rhea ran up. Rhea was only to Andre's shoulders and had long cascading black hair. She had the same blue eyes as Christian and Moira which seemed to pop even more with the turquoise dress that Moira had picked out for her. She had been running barefoot.

"Moira's not at Nathan's," Rhea announced. "I've already checked both their rooms too."

"What's going on?" Dimitri questioned.

"We were going to throw a party in the rec room and Moira went to go find Lily to take her to the Moroi rec room," Rhea told him. "We've been combing the party for the past fifteen minutes. They're over an hour late."

"That's not unusual,"

"Maybe for Lily," Andre continued. "But Moira goes insane if she doesn't arrive _anywhere_ on time, the dentist, hell even for dinner. If she was going to be even later, she would've at least phoned us," He held up the device.

"Does that have a tracking unit?"

Rhea nodded. "All of ours are connected."

Dimitri took it in his hands and pulled up the tracking app. He found Moira's dot several hundred feet away. "You two follow me!" he said before he took off running. Dimitri glanced behind to find Rhea on Andre's back. He stopped, looking around. He bent down.

There was evidence of a scuffle, including a broken heel. Dimitri bent down, picking it up in his hands, before he turned towards Andre and Rhea. The latter of the two gasped.

"You recognize it?" he questioned.

"It looks like the heel of Lily's shoe," Rhea whispered. Dimitri looked around, finding the phone deep within the bushes and Rhea found another shoe, this one a gold color. "This is Moira's…"

"Come on," Dimitri said. "We're going to Kirova."

* * *

Within a time span of thirty minutes, a tag team had been heading in the direction of the van that had taken the girls. Connor Lynch, who actually turned out to be a pretty good hacker, had managed to break into the human security system and managed to track the van after breaking it down. Serena and several others of the royal guards had taken the Queen into a separate area for the lockdown with Rhea and Andre.

Christian, her husband, was sitting on the back of one of the chairs in Kirova's office as he waited patiently for the news of his daughter's rescue.

"Why are we just sitting here?" Christian questioned Kirova. "Why aren't we out there helping them, Kirova? My daughter is out there!"

"Your daughter isn't the only daughter out there, Christian! Moroi or not, Lily's mother needs to know and be here during this situation," Kirova snapped. "I'm waiting for Lily's mother to arrive from Baia."

"Baia, Russia?"

"No, Baia, Montana," Kirova muttered, rubbing her hands together. "It's about thirty minutes away from here and she's driving as fast as she can."

"Who is Lily's mother?" Christian questioned. "Lily never talks much about her."

"Lily's mother doesn't want o be talked about," Kirova replied.

"Why is that?" Christian questioned.

Kirova shrugged. "Guess she doesn't want to make anyone angry I suppose,"

There were rapid footsteps outside of the office and Alberta opened the door, escorting in a woman that was as old as Christian was. Her hair was a long dark brown and her eyes were brown with gold flecks in them. Christian knew them well, even if he hadn't seen them in nearly sixteen years. She looked like she had just rolled out of bed but it didn't stop Christian from looking at her like his eyes were having an illusion.

"What's going on?" Rosemarie Hathaway questioned Kirova, breathless as though she had just run up the stairs.

"They're following the van to the location where they believe the girls are being held captive," Kirova explained, glancing towards the phone as though it was about to ring. "We're hoping to have the girls back within the hour."

"What happened?"

This question was directed at Christian. He glanced up at her, the woman who became his sister many years ago. They still seemed to be so similar. Christian could see the regret in her eyes. Christian didn't know if it was the regret of leaving or of arriving so late.

"Moira and Lily were kidnapped on the way from meeting up with Andre and Rhea at a party," he told Rose. "They went after Lily first and used her to make Moira surrender."

"Guardian Belikov discovered this and put a team together to track them down. It includes your mother and a majority of the Royal Guards," Kirova continued. "I'm sorry I dragged you up here, Rose,"

"Its fine," Rose replied, fumbling with the charm wrapped around her neck. "Lily's in danger." Christian wrapped an arm around her and Rose wrapped her arms around him. They stood there for several minutes before the phone rang and Kirova dove for it.

"What is it, Belikov?"

Kirova's eyes widened.

"What do you mean someone's been shot?!"

Rose's grip on Christian's waist tightened.

* * *

The men returned, this time with a Moroi man. He was tall with a suit and tie. He had a very familiar face as well but Moira couldn't pin point an exact place where she could remember seeing the face. His eyes were the color of the ocean at night, dark and imposing on everything it surrounds, and Moira felt frightened until she saw the solid glare at Lily's face.

Lily looked furious, like someone had just taken something from her. It was a look similar to the time that James Lazar had tried to get with Moira based on blood standards. Moira leaned forward, grabbing Lily's shoulder, and was glad when she felt Lily's tense arm soften.

"What do you want?" Moira questioned.

"Your powers," he supplied. "Your fame, your fortune. You." He turned towards Lily, grabbing her by the back of her bonds, and dragging her away from the couch. Moira started to protest but was silenced by a look from Lily. Moira, in that brief moment, saw a flash of a plan beginning to form in Lily's eyes and Moira silently prayed that they were good enough to escape out of the place unharmed.

"What about me?" Moira asked him.

"Didn't you just hear me? Everything," he stated, twirling his gun around.

"What powers?" Moira demanded. "I haven't even specialized yet."

"Well, now, we'll be able to say that you have specialized," he stated, fumbling with the various pieces of his gun.

"And how exactly am I supposed to specialize in something that I've never even done before…"

Moira's mother was a spirit user, the first ever Queen of the Moroi world to specialize in the element and one of the few known. Moira could remember that for her entire sixteen years of life, her parents were wondering if any of their three children were going to specialize in spirit but, thankfully as her mother had once put it long ago, Andre and Rhea had already specialized (Earth and Water, respectively).

Moira's fire magic was slightly above her water and earth and was even with her air magic level.

Moira had never told anyone, aside from Lily, about the time when she accidently healed a scraped knee that Lily had gotten from a fight with one of the novices. She had been thrown across the room and had skinned her knee on one of the weapons. Moira had only moved to touch it when the warmth seeped from Moira to Lily, healing the wound within seconds as people stood over her.

Moira had always been afraid of the fact that she would have been a spirit user and so was Lily.

Both of the girls had seen what Lissa had gone through over the years. Sometimes she would go mad around them, muttering to herself, then her friend Adrian would come and do some spirit magic and she would be fine. Then she would be fine for a couple months. Christian had told his youngest that she used to be fine back when she had Rose Hathaway was shadow-kissed.

But Moira didn't want anything to do with spirit.

"Like this," he said.

_BANG!_

Lily flinched, blood seeping onto her dress from the bullet wound in her thigh. She moved, struggling against the bonds, to press her hands against the wound on her thigh. She made no move to scream however, though Moira was the one who actually screamed. Lily's eyes caught Moira's and they looked at each other for several moments.

Lily shook her head as though knowing what was going through Moira's head at that exact moment of time.

"Will you heal her?" the man questioned.

"I _told _you! I've never done it before!" Moira told him.

"Liar,"

_BANG!_

Moira screamed again, this time Lily's cry of fear escaped. This one was in the shoulder and Moira could tell that it seemed to have barely missed the heart. Lily was crying, her head tipping to one side and slipping into unconsciousness. Moira watched at her in fear and turned towards the man.

"How dare you?!"

There was a darkness forming in her body, swirling together like a fierce tornado that she couldn't control, and he knew it. But before he could comment, or gloat, a burst of air jumped out from her, pushing everyone against the wall, knocking two of the guards unconscious, and throwing the Moroi out of the room, the door snapping shut behind him. Moira dove for one of the spare shards of glass on the ground and ripped the bonds off her wrists, cutting her hands several times from the odd angle.

"Lily," she whispered when she finally got over her friend. Lily wasn't breathing. "Lily!"

Moira closed her eyes, looking around. She was alone.

"Come on spirit," she muttered. "If you are there, do not fair me now."

* * *

Dimitri was standing outside the house with Janine Hathaway, his almost mother-in-law, when the first shot went off. Dimitri could hear Moira's scream and Janine's arms wrapped around him, pulling him back from trying to storm the house.

"Dimitri calm down! Running in will only kill them!"

Connor Lynch, a guardian from Ireland, was standing nearby, looking at the house where the girls were at with a fierce determination on his face. It was weird seeing Connor not laughing and smiling with any one of the guardians no matter the case. Dimitri had trained Connor as a royal guardian when he came to America and Dimitri knew him better than anyone else. He served Rhea and the only person he was more protective of than Rhea was Lily.

Connor caught his eye and moved to talk to some of the other guardians about strategy. Dimitri turned to see Janine was on the phone with the Headmistress. It was silent for several more minutes before there was another shot and the windows shattered. Dimitri turned towards Janine.

"Ask her for permission to breach!" Dimitri ordered.

"Permission granted!" Janine responded. Dimitri ran forward, several of the other guardians following after him, and Connor, being the first one there, kicked in the door with a solid kick that knocked the door into someone who stood too close. Dimitri fought his way through the guardians and grabbed a Moroi who looked like he was wounded and brought him close.

"Where are they?!"

* * *

For a few brief moments, the only thing that Lily felt was absolutely, bittersweet _nothing._

She didn't felt anything, no pain, no life, no nothing. For a moment, those moments when she realized was death, was the only thing that was utterly painless.

Then she woke up with a rush of spirit that filled her with foreign warmth that she in fifteen years of life never experienced before. Moira was above her, crying as she leaned down to rest their foreheads together. For a few bittersweet moments, they both sat there until Lily broke the silence.

"Are you still good with fire?"

Moira nodded.

"Good, cut my bonds,"

Moira chuckled, a dark chuckle that Lily didn't particularly like, "I can do one better," she stated, holding up a shard of glass from the window. She reached down and sliced apart the bonds in a way that reminded Lily of her mother cooking as the door burst open. The girls turned.

Dimitri Belikov stood in the doorway in his Russian God stature. He ran over, leaning over her, and checking for wounds. Lily looked up at him with groggy eyes, kind of like one waking up from a nap but she didn't wake up from a nap, and he looked down at her. He had short hair that almost looked jet-black in the night sky and brown eyes that looked down warmly at her.

"Did you heal her, Moira?" he questioned.

"Yes," Lily answered. "She used air magic as a distraction and shoved them out of the room. Then she made it over to me and managed to heal me before I slipped into unconsciousness from blood loss." Lily looked towards her best friend as Dimitri moved to pick her up. "Thank you," Lily told Moira. Moira nodded, following after Dimitri and down the stairs.

"I've got her," Connor told Dimitri, taking Lily from Dimitri's arms as Janine called Dimitri over. Lily curled against Connor's chest and then it happened for the first time. She flashed into Moira's body for the first time. Moira was watching Connor take her to the SUV and following behind. Lily managed to push herself out of Moira's head and sat in the back until Moira climbed in after her, closing the door behind him.

"I was dead," Lily stated.

"You were dead," Moira stated.

"Does that mean?" Lily questioned.

Moira nodded. "Yes, we're bonded."

"I'm sorry for invading your mind," Lily responded.

"It's fine, it's a two-way bond," Moira answered. "I slipped into yours not long after you woke up."

Lily looked at her.

"We can't tell anyone about this, can we?"

"No," Lily answered, taking Moira's hand in her own. "I don't think we can. Not yet, anyways."

Moira nodded her head. "I can agree with that. Oh, and by the way, I don't mind that you lied to me about your mother," Moira replied.

"I didn't even think about her," Lily said, shocked.

"You are always thinking of her," Moira replied. Lily looked out the window. "I can't wait to meet her."

"I can't wait for you to meet her either,"

* * *

"Are you leaving?" Christian questioned Rose as he followed her to the parking lot. Rose looked behind her shoulder at him. Christian was running behind after her and fell into step beside her.

"Yeah, I have to get home in time for the night shift," Rose replied.

"You don't want to see Lily?"

"No, I do," Rose admitted. "But I need the money or I'm going to lose the house and I could barely get off for the two hours I'm already off by the time that I get back." Rose turned towards him. "Tell her I'm sorry for me, please?"

Christian nodded. "I will." Rose smiled, moving towards the car that was parked outside the office. "You know Rose, you really need to come and meet Moira."

"I know," Rose answered. "Lily's talked a lot about her." Rose looked away, towards the forest. "I was going to come back you know?"

"What changed?" Christian questioned, leaning against the side of the car.

"Same thing that happens to every mother-daughter story," Rose replied. "I saw her for the first time and everything changed. I didn't really want to leave her, you know?"

Christian did know, but chose to simply nod instead of speak as he moved to stand up. "You better go."

"Yeah," Rose hugged him, tightly. Christian hugged her back, something that neither one of them would admit that they had missed. Rose let go of him and climbed into the car. She hesitated before she closed the door and looked at him. "Don't tell Lissa,"

"I know, Hathaway," he answered. Rose moved to close the door. "Rose," she stopped, looking up at him for a moment. "I am really sorry about Jesse, you know that right?"

"Of course I know, Ozera or do I call you Dragomir now?" Rose teased. Christian chuckled.

Rose nodded, closing the door, and kick started the engine. She backed up and sped away. Christian watched her go before turning around and heading back inside the office.

* * *

"Mrs. Tanner says that I've specialized in spirit," Moira greeted Lily, who was sitting in one of the chairs at their normal table, the next day. Lily looked up as Moira sat down across from her. Moira was playing with the packaging of the chips. "Says she should have seen the signs in my aura," Moira scoffed. She looked around, running a hand through her hair. "I'm going to become like Mom, constantly having to be healed by a friend,"

"No you won't," Lily told her, "Because I'm here."

"I bet my mom thought that too," Moira stated. "With Rosemarie Hathaway,"

"My mother got pregnant," Lily whispered. "I won't get pregnant," Lily looked down at her Creative Writing story she had been working on. "Even if I do, I won't run away like my mother did. That was stupid to believe that no one would believe her."

Moira was looking at her, dipping into her mind, before looking away almost satisfied. "It would make a good story," Moira teased.

Lily rolled her eyes, biting her lip as she moved to continue her assignment.

"So, question, without the bond, would you have told me your darkest secret?"

Lily nodded. "I would tell you," Lily answered. "I wasn't sure how you would have reacted to it."

"Understandable," Moira said. "Just remember that I'm always here for you,"

"I'll remember that Moira," Lily said. "By the way, nice middle name."

Moira laughed, taking a bite out of her apple.

The kidnapping was meant to happen.

Lily was a Hathaway, Moira was a Dragomir.

Lillian Vasilisa Hathaway and Moira Rosemarie Dragomir were meant to be bonded. It's obvious, isn't it?

* * *

_Hope you enjoyed!_

_See you in Chapter One. _


	2. Chapter One: Loss

_This was supposed to be up a while ago, I know, but I've been reading the Bloodlines series so I've been a little distracted this past summer so that's my fault. Also, there is a new character that I wasn't originally planning on when I wrote the prologue but I decided to bring him in for a reason that you will find out later. I promise. _

_So yes, I am very sorry for the long wait between updates. I hope you enjoy this very long overdue chapter. _

* * *

Chapter One: Loss

* * *

"Lily, wake up!"

Lily jolted awake to find that there were tears on her cheeks, sweat on her skin, and Christian Dragomir above her. Dimitri Belikov was on the end of her bed but she barely registered the sight of him before Christian pulled her in his arms and held her close. Her tears came faster this time as she remembered the dream, the fire.

She had been in a burning house, curled into the corner of the room and away from the fire but with nowhere to go. The windows were useless, since it was almost a fifty foot drop, and the door was on the other side of the fire. Worse of all were the screams of her mother shouting "Lily! Jesse!" and Lily had kept on crying like it was the worst thing ever. She had been ten when that happened and she had walked out of it.

Her younger brother, Jesse, hadn't made it out.

While there was no sign of a body or remains of a body, they had ruled Jesse dead. "No one could have survived the fire," the dhampir policeman had told Lily when he took her statement. They had ruled it an arson due to the accelerants out in the hallway and the case had long since become cold with lack of evidence. Lily didn't feel like telling them that she had been the one to start the fire and she had accidently killed her brother. Her mother had told her not to blame herself but Lily knew that her mother was kidding herself.

Lily had started the fire.

"It's alright," Christian whispered in her ear. His body was warm like a fire and it seeped through his clothes to hold onto her. "It's okay. You are in the Royal Court. You aren't in that building." After a while, Lily's tears began to slow and she pushed them off her cheeks. Dimitri stood at the end of Lily's bed as though he was ready to attack anything that would hurt her. Christian pulled away and wiped at her cheeks like he was trying to banish the tears too. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Lily muttered. "Just a bad dream,"

"Or a bad memory," he corrected. Lily tried to fake a smile. "Come here," he whispered before he brought her into a hug again. His thumb grazed her shoulder and he began to draw patterns against her skin with his forefinger. "Dimitri, would you go ask Alex to start cooking breakfast? Lissa and the kids are due back in a couple of hours."

Dimitri said something before he left the room. He cracked the door before his footsteps were heard down the hallway. Christian weaved his hands through her dark hair and held her for several more minutes before he let her go. He pushed back her dark hair away from her face and smiled at her. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"How do you like your eggs?" he asked even though he knew the answer.

"Scrambled," she replied.

"Ok, they should be ready by the time you take a long cold bath which I am assuming that you are going to do," Christian told her. She smiled at him in thanks. Christian kissed her on the forehead before following Dimitri out the door and closing it behind him. There were sounds of him walking away and once they had faded, her phone began to ring.

"I'm fine, I swear," she spoke into the phone.

The blonde on the other end huffed. "You don't sound fine," Moira replied. Lily smirked as she climbed off the bed and locked the bedroom door. "Besides, that was a vivid dream that you had. If I hadn't put up shields, I might have caught all of it instead of the tiny bit that I did get." She paused for a moment as Lily started the water. She was watching it pool up before Moira spoke again, "Are you sure that you are ok?"

"Yes, Moira," she replied. "I am completely fine."

"And like I said before," Moira told her, "you don't sound fine." Lily put soap in the water and watched it bubble. "I'll let you get to your bath. I've got to get on the plane so I'll see you in a couple of hours."

"See you then," Lily replied.

There was silence from Moira's end and a quick peek into her mind told her that she was listening to her brother and sister, who always seemed to have a great bond that they didn't have with her, talk about their plans for the day. She sighed heavily and lowered her voice so Andre and Rhea wouldn't hear. "You know that you're always welcome with us right?"

"Yes," Lily replied. "It's the same with you if you ever need to just run away from all of the politics."

"Just drag me away if it gets too much," Moira whispered. "Promise me."

Lily nodded, even though Moira couldn't see, and replied. "I promise."

* * *

By the time Andre had woken up from his power nap, his sister's spot had been taken by his guardian, and the only male of the triplet's guardians, Connor Lynch. Despite the man being nearly five years older than Andre, the two had always gotten along since he had been assigned to the team several months ago and the man filled the void—_almost_—that had been left behind by his first best friend. Andre ran a hand through his black hair.

_No one could ever fill that void._

"Where's Rhea?" Andre questioned with a yawn.

"Up there in the front with your mother and Heather," Connor replied smoothly as he sunk down in his chair and scratched the stubble on his face. "Your mother is trying to talk Rhea out of a black dress that she wants to wear for the Queen's birthday party."

Andre nodded as he studied the man beside him. Connor had the same dark hair, yes, but his eyes were completely wrong—green like his instead of the brown ones with golden flecks of color swimming inside of them. Connor was slightly taller than he imagined his best friend, nearly the same height as the younger Moroi son, and wore dark clothes matched with ripped jeans. It was quite some time later, as Andre had begun to realize that Connor had a scar in the shape of a circle on his neck, that he hadn't talked in some time now and decided to speak.

"Is she budging?"

"Of course not," Connor replied. He glanced over his shoulder towards Moira. "Your other sister is staring out the window and smiling like she's somewhere else." He looked nervously towards his watch then back towards Cat, Moira's guardian, who had plopped down in the seat across the aisle.

Cat was Connor's elder sister. The two had matching green eyes and dark hair straighter that Rhea's but were different in builds. While Connor was buff and tall, Cat was almost the complete opposite with a sleek build and a petite stature. She had light freckles dotting her nose and cheek bones that were barely non-existent under her tanned skin. She smiled at him toothily. "How was your nap, Andre?" she questioned.

"Fine," he replied, his voice still filled with sleep. "Where are we?"

"Only a couple hours away," Cat assured him. "The sun's still up though so the windows are still closed."

Andre nodded as the siblings began to banter. He listened for only a moment before he noticed Moira watching the two of them with sad eyes. Her blue eyes were wide and her smile, which had been so far away moments ago, was smacked with reality. Her long blonde hair fell from behind her ear and she turned so it covered her face. Andre watched her for several moments before turning back to the siblings.

They were still arguing like the twins used to.

Andre searched his bag for his headphones, put them into his ears, and started playing some music. Not only did it distract him from the siblings but also from what had been troubling the Dragomir son for days since his youngest sister's kidnapping. He had just enough concentration that he began to write on his phone.

* * *

Moira bolted from the plane the moment the doors opened.

The sun was still slightly out and it beat down on her more sensitive shoulders through the trees. Cat appeared besides Moira with the white parasol which Moira took quickly and thanked her guardian a few moments afterwards. Andre and Rhea quickly climbed the stairs underneath Andre's black umbrella. Connor climbed down the stairs with Serena, the Queen's main guardian, with the Queen following down the stairs.

Queen Vasilisa Dragomir was the only forty five years of age but sometimes, Moira felt like her mother was nearly a decade earlier. Having birthed three children at once, her figure had long since rounded out and the years of strain underneath politics left her weary and tired on most occasions. She smiled curtly at best and Moira had always felt like she kept her children out of arms reach. Moira wasn't even sure if her mother held her as a child.

The Queen had long blonde hair like Moira's to her mid back and had given her emerald Dragomir eyes to her only son. Most of her wardrobe consisted of long dress, sweaters, and pants. She wore several rings on every finger and often would stand like she was constantly being watched. Moira required her with the same caution that always happened as the Queen stepped underneath Serena's umbrella.

"Where's the car?" she questioned Serena. Andre started bobbing his head to the music.

"Dimitri told me that it would be here," Serena replied. Serena was blonde like her charge but was a couple years older than the Queen. The two looked similar and were practically almost sisters. Moira had always called Serena "Auntie" since she was a child. She liked to think that Serena had replaced a hole that Lily's mother had caused.

"There it is," Cat said from Moira's left.

"Welcome back to the Royal Court," one of the dhampirs who climbed out from the black SUV. Moira tried to ignore the longing gaze that traveled from the dhampir in question but she felt her chest flutter in response. "Prince Christian and Lily are still at the Royal Housing."

"Thank you Gabe," the Queen told him as another opened the passenger seat for her. Connor climbed in the middle, Serena climbed in the back after Rhea, and Andre followed. Gabe looked at her and Moira faced a debate as Cat waited for her to climb in the vehicle.

Moira opened her mouth to say that she couldn't meet him tomorrow or that it would be wrong or something due to the age difference but she surprised herself when she hissed, "Tomorrow", in his direction. A smile crossed his face and her cheeks flushed as she hurried to the car and climbed in between Cat and Andre.

The only Dragomir son continued to bob his head up and down.

_You always had a weakness for Gabe_, Lily's voice sounded through her head.

_Oh, shut up._

* * *

Lily was only partially dressed in her favorite floral skirt and a lacy black bra when Moira returned to the Royal Housing. The blonde groaned as she slammed the door behind her and fell onto her separate king sized bed. The suitcase she had rolled down the hallway fell to the floor with a _smack_ as it tipped over by the door and she rolled on her back in response.

"Why did I say that?" she snapped as she hit her head. "Why can I never say no to him?"

"I don't know," Lily replied, finding a black tank top from the closet and slipping it on. She jumped on the bed to join her best friend. "Is it maybe because Gabe is sexy?"

Moira chuckled from behind her hands. "I don't know if it's that," Moira replied, stretching. "But Serena told me that we are going shopping for dresses for Mom's birthday party."

"Isn't that two months away?" Lily questioned.

"Yes," Moira replied. "But this is the only time between now and then that my mother will be free for any personal family time so Serena wants to make the most of it." She flipped over on her stomach and thought for a moment. "I might change the plans for in the morning though."

"Do you have enough stress that you need to move up the plans with Gabe?"

"When your mother demands perfection while on a family trip that is also partially a business trip, yes I can have so much stress that I would actively seek out the company of Gabe Allen for the second time this summer," Moira told her with an obvious sarcastic tone.

Lily nodded her head as she stood up. "I'm going to go get breakfast while you contemplate just how exactly you are going to find a way to tell Gabriel Allen this while also sneaking out of here at daytime without the other guardians knowing."

"True," Moira whispered under her breath as Lily left the room.

Christian was in the kitchen with Dimitri, Connor, and his only son when Lily finally managed to remember the way to the kitchen. Having been lost in her own thoughts—actually helping Moira figure it out, she had tried to enter Rhea's room three times, leave the Royal Housing four times, and almost accidently run into the Queen herself. Serena had luckily saved her from that fiasco and had prompted her to turn left at the end of the hallway.

Christian and Andre were a respectable couple feet away from their guardians and were having a hushed conversation which stopped when Lily had approached them. From the look of sorrow in Andre's eyes, she had a pretty good idea what the conversation had been about.

Jesse.

While Lily had lost a brother and another part of herself (they were twins), Andre had lost the only person who managed to make him complete. The two boys had been inseparable since they started school, and might have played a large part in Moira and Lily becoming such close friends, and Andre was devastated after the fire. He had become lost after the fire and finally managed to bounce back not long before Moira's kidnapping. He still seemed to keep Lily at a distance though.

Speaking of keeping Lily at a distance, he looked at her for several moments for bolting—almost literally—out the door with Connor following after him at a brisk walk. Christian watched after him as he handed Lily her breakfast. "I'm sorry about him,"

"You don't need to be," Lily interrupted him. "He's about as sad as I am." She placed her plate on the island and leaned over it as she began to eat. "Are we still going shopping for dresses?"

"Yes," Serena said as she and the Queen entered the kitchen. The Queen glanced at Christian and Lily in question. "We are."

Lily watched the Queen as something flickered on her face, like an emotion that had been buried under the surface that no one had seen before. Within moments, Christian had left Lily's side and was at hers, holding her hands and kissing her lips in comfort. The Queen melted against her husband's touch and fell into his hug. The guardians around her looked neutral, like they had seen this before, but Lily felt like she had witnessed something that she shouldn't have.

Her phone rang shrilly but not even that could stop the Queen and Christian, who were holding onto each other like nothing could pull them apart. Lily glanced at the screen of her phone, felt her eyebrows furrow, and stepped out of the room.

* * *

"What color do you think would look good on me?" Lily questioned from across the store.

Despite the fact that it was midnight and the Royal Court should be bustling with people, the boutique that her mother had chosen for their shopping trip was completely empty. Moira wondered if that was because the Queen had asked for it to be empty or if they were only open because of them. Lily had taken charge of her guardian-less company and had steam rolled to the maroon dresses in the back but was looking around with wide eyes like she normally did.

Rhea had gone towards the black dresses with Heather, their mother, and Serena at her heels and was holding up a particularly revealing dress towards Heather who seemed to be indifferent about it. Andre was looking lost as he looked through the tuxedo section with his father, Dimitri, and Connor. Moira was closer towards the conservative blues with Cat at her side.

"I think green would good on you," Moira told the guardian beside her. "Isn't Mom allowing you and Heather to wear dresses so you can 'blend in more'?"

"Yes," Cat replied, looking at one of the green dresses in question. "But I'm not quite for sure if I actually want to wear one. Some are so restricting and formfitting that I can't even fit a knife underneath or too hot that it makes me sweaty and uncomfortable."

"So, a short ball gown type style?" Lily said, popping up beside Cat. She had a dress in her hands that was a dark emerald green color that matched Cat's eyes. "I think I've found the perfect dress for your unique situation."

"You know, for a dhampir, I always forget that you love fashion," Cat told Lily.

The younger girl shrugged. "Only when I have the chance," Lily told her, "Which usually means summers and Christmas time." Cat took the dress in hand and Lily took Moira's hand. "Come on, I need to find me a dress."

* * *

After shopping, where no one but the guardians and Andre got anything, the five Dragomirs, Lily, and their assigned guardians went to dinner in one of the finer restaurants inside the Royal Court. The Queen told the guardians that they were to sit and have dinner with them since they had been on their feet for a majority of the afternoon.

Dimitri and Serena, who have both been in the Royal Guard since before Lily was born, sat without a complaint and had ordered their food by the time that the Queen had used enough compulsion to make them sit down. Connor was still grumbling under his breath when he handed his army green jacket to the only Hathaway at the table. She had been chilly and looking over her shoulder since before the shopping party. Her phone rang and she jumped.

"What's wrong?" Lissa heard her youngest daughter whisper to her best friend.

"Mom's just messaging me from Russia," Lily responded as she rubbed her hands together. "She's gone to visit Aunt Oskana since I'm here with you guys."

Oskana?

"Lissa!"

She turned around to find Adrian Ivashkov, one of her closer friends, walking towards them. Despite the fact that he and his wife, Sydney, were living in Maine with their children, she never got to see too much from him. It was probably why she stood up and hugged him tightly. She didn't have to see the looks of surprise from her children's face to know that they were surprised. Dimitri stood up to greet Adrian as well.

"What are you doing at the Royal Court?" Lissa questioned.

"I'm here to check on you, cousin," he replied lightly. "Plus I have to renew the license to teach for the humans."

"How is that coming along?" Christian questioned from his seat beside Lily. They had been talking in hushed whispers before Adrian had come over but both were looking up towards the newcomer in question.

"It's going along great actually," Adrian replied. "The high school in the district is asking me to teach there as well." He stared at Lily who was absorbed into typing a message questionably. "I haven't met her before. Who is she?"

"Oh, this is Lily Hathaway," Lissa introduced. "She's Moira's best friend since first grade." She looked towards Lily, who wasn't paying much attention before leaning closer to Adrian. "She was also Jesse's older sister." She thought about Andre too late but breathed in relief when she saw him engaged in conversation with Rhea at the end of the table. "Lily, have you met Adrian Ivashkov?"

The brunette looked up as though surprised that she was spoken too. "Is there any relation to Sydney Ivashkov?"

Lissa and Adrian both remarked her with surprise. "Yes," Adrian finally spoke. "She's my wife."

"Oh," Lily replied, getting up from her chair. "I met her once with my mom and—" She cut off and scratched behind her ear. "It was a long time ago," she stated instead, holding out a hand. "It's excellent to meet you Lord Ivashkov."

"Please," he said, taking her hand. "Call me Adrian." He stared at her for a moment before releasing her hand. Though looking partially confused, she went back to her seat beside Moira who was watching Adrian closely. Her youngest turned back towards Lily and the two continued their hushed conversation.

Adrian turned back towards Lily and seemed to be thinking of asking something. He bit down on his finger as he asked, "Do you know if she's Rose's daughter?"

"Yes," Lissa replied. "I even asked the Russian King for the records of her birth. According to Dimitri, the records say that her mother's name is Alexandra Hathaway. There wasn't a father listed." Lissa rubbed her sore hands together. "Why?"

"Her aura," Adrian replied. "It's just like Rose's."

Lissa nodded her head. "Would you like to join us for dinner?" she questioned.

He nodded, though it was obvious what was running through his head. "I would love to."

* * *

Andre couldn't sleep in the empty room.

It used to be full of life back about three years ago when Lily wasn't the only one who visited during the summer vacations and Andre wasn't the playboy that he was now. There were still two beds in the room since Andre had protested when they tried to remove it. One was more mature than the one that was wrapped with Iron Man sheets. Sun poured through the open window and Andre thought that if he looked hard enough that he would spot the ghost who inhabited this room.

He climbed out of bed and roamed the royal housing. All the day guardians were in their respective places but none were in sight at the moment. Dimitri along with Connor was in their room trying to get some sleep before the next night. Andre walked the familiar track to his parents' room but paused when he reached out to touch it. He could go to his dad, he understood, but he'd have to wake up his mother in the process.

His mother hadn't been the same in a while.

She wouldn't welcome a crying child in her bed anymore.

So Andre turned around and walked towards the girls' room. He opened the door to Moira's room and didn't even pause at Moira's empty bed before making a beeline straight for Lily's which was the one closest towards the window. He was about to turn away—because of the sight of her asleep in purple sheets was enough to always make him pause—when she woke up. She blinked up at him and then pushed the covers off of her.

"What is it?" she questioned when he sat down beside her. She looked awake now. Her brown hair falling in messy waves and her brown eyes turned towards him with wide eyes. He felt like leaving but before he even had a chance to move, she had snatched his hand in his—sending an awfully warm sensation speeding through his body. "What is it, Andre?"

"I—" he started. "I honestly don't know. I just know that I haven't been able to sleep in that room for three years."

"Well," Lily whispered. "Sleep with me then. Maybe you can fall asleep then."

He nodded his head in understanding before flopping down on the sheets beside her. She had barely started to lay back down when he felt his mind let go and he fell into sleep as easy as flipping a light switch.

* * *

_There will be a couple differences between this and the original story. Other than that, I hope you guys enjoyed and I'll see you in the next chapter. _


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